Known formally as the Integrated Science and Engineering Laboratory Facility, ISELF will be the largest single construction project, measured in dollars, in Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system history, according to university officials.

Construction will create 325 on-site jobs and a total of 961 off-site, direct and indirect jobs, according to Dan McKay of McGough, the St. Paul-based construction manager at-risk.

Research in ISELF will support Minnesota companies that are global leaders in medical devices, pharma/biologics, animal science, bio-agriculture and renewable energy.

St. Cloud State faculty and students will be able to do more collaborative research with businesses and earn more National Science Foundation grants, said David DeGroote, dean of the College of Science and Engineering.

"ISELF is about putting people in the same physical space to interact and collaborate around projects that are cross-disciplinary," DeGroote said. "That's how work gets done in the real world."